Cheaper Than Dirt! Talks To Top Shot Season 2 Competitor Kyle Frasure

California native Kyle Frasure was the youngest contestant on Season 2 of the History Channel’s reality TV show Top Shot. Kyle grew up in an environment in Southern California that, to be blunt, wasn’t necessarily conducive to acquiring an extensive background in firearms. Despite this, he’s become quite an accomplished shotgun shooter.

Kyle was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule and talk to us about his background in international skeet and his experience on Top Shot Season 2.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Let’s start by discussing your background with firearms. Growing up in Southern California, did you have many opportunities to learn to shoot and become familiar with the various shooting disciplines?

Kyle: I grew up in Orange County my whole life. It’s not exactly the warmest climate for the shooting sports. We don’t even have an outdoor shooting range in Orange County. I started out just being fascinated with firearms. My mom would take me to Disney Land and the first thing I’d want to buy would be a little cap gun. She began to realize that this could go a bad way or it could go a good way if I channeled it in that direction. Every time I got good grades on my report card she would take me to an indoor shooting range and get me a pistol lesson or a little rifle lesson with a .22 so that I could learn the safety and respect that sport deserves.

It was a lot of fun for me and made it more of an incentive to do well in school. When I was in 6th grade they got me a .22 caliber bolt action Marlin rifle, a little junior model, for Christmas. That kind of sparked things off. We’d go out every weekend and just kinda plink. At Prado where the 1984 Olympics were held I saw them shooting skeet one day. I was just shocked, it was unreal and I just had to try it.

I bought a gun that day, a 20 gauge Beretta 391, and I got a coach the next week and had my first lesson. Literally from then on it just took off. I was hooked on shotgun shooting. That’s where it started. Then, I went on the sporting clays circuit when I was 12 or 13 years old. I started going around competing in little local matches, little fun shoots you know. It kind of grew from there and I went to Regionals and Nationals and eventually US Open competitions.

Cheaper Than Dirt: You’ve made quite the name for yourself as a shotgun shooter, but have you gained any experience shooting any other competitive shooting disciplines such as USPSA?

Kyle: I haven’t done any rifle. I guess about 5 or 6 years ago I traded one of my competition shotguns for a 1911 and started doing some IPSC stuff. I really had no idea what I was doing though. I’m fortunate enough to be very close to a big organization that does IPSC shoots.

Maggie Reese is actually a member out there in Norco. They were so accepting and willing to help somebody who really had a desire to learn. I went out there a couple of times and had a lot of fun. I could never really say that I was competing or that I was nearly competitive.

Cheaper Than Dirt: You’re an accomplished shotgun shooter, and you obviously have a well rounded background, but I’m curious what prompted you to go through the trouble of putting together an audition video and filling out the lengthy application for the chance to be a contestant on Top Shot?

Kyle: You know, I don’t know. I watched the first season, and I really fell in love with the show. I watched it religiously, DVRed the whole thing and re-watched episodes. At the time I thought that I was really growing to know these characters. Since then I’ve realized I knew absolutely nothing about them from watching the show, but that was kinda cool.

I saw the last episode where they said “If you know of any shooters, or if you are a shooter yourself, amateur or otherwise, send in this application.”

My girlfriend is actually the one who said “You ought to try this,” and then upon looking into it I found it was this long 7 page application with all of these little mini-essays, and then you have to do the video. I realized that it was going to be a lot of work in order to just have a 1 in 7,000 shot at being on the show, but I did it anyway.

I’ve got a buddy who does wedding videos, and he was able to help me out and kinda get a video out in one day. It was kinda just a shot in the dark really.

Cheaper Than Dirt: But you had a leg up with a bit of professional production.

Kyle: Kinda, yeah. It’s a cool video, and he did a really good job. But actually, the producers and the casting people called me based on the application itself and said “Hey, we’re really interested, but we’d really like to see a video.”

So I told them “Well, I already sent one in. Do I need to send another one?”

They replied “Oh? We haven’t seen it yet,” so it was really different having a 23-year old kid sending in an application from California, especially in this area of California. I guess I bring something different to the shooting sports, something they were really looking forward towards exploring that option.

Cheaper Than Dirt: When you went to the audition then, you already knew Maggie Reese from USPSA?

Kyle: I did not. I knew a lot of the people out there that shot with her, but she does so many national level shoots that when I went out there, the few times that I did at first, she was out doing other things. Jojo Vidanes was actually the guy who really showed me the ropes. He’s a great guy.

So, at the audition, I didn’t know Maggie but I did know a few of the shotgun guys from Texas, but I didn’t know any other people really.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Where you surprised to get the call back from the producers asking you to be on the show?

Kyle: Really, I knew that the people who I was competing against to get on the show were going to be the young guys. I obviously wasn’t going to go and beat out a guy who was an Air Force sniper. We weren’t even going for the same spot. It really just boiled down to 5 guys, the young shooters who they needed for the show.

I had a feeling, the interview went so well with the producers, there was a good chance, but you’re obviously waiting on pins and needles the whole week. It was kinda funny, I was going out one night, it was like 8 o’clock and I got the call. It was such a relief, but then you start thinking “What the hell did I just get myself into?”

Cheaper Than Dirt: It’s a big decision to go into, knowing that you’ll be isolated for weeks at a time with no contact with the outside world, no radio, no TV, no cell phones, nothing.

Kyle: We didn’t know any of that up front. They really keep that information close to the vest. We get the call that we’re going to do it, and then they say “We’ll send you more information.” We didn’t know when we were leaving, how long we’d be gone, or what kind of contact we would have with the outside world. I didn’t know if I’d have internet access so I could pay bills or anything.

You get given information piece-mill, but I guess that’s just how it works. We found out we were going to be gone for 6 weeks, and this was right before the holidays. We’d have no phone, no internet, no radio, no letters, no contact with anybody. At that point your mind starts troubleshooting the actual logistics of living your life away from your actual life.

It was exciting and exhilarating and… Kind of frightening at the same time.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Tell us about preparing for the show. You saw Season 1 and had a rough idea about what types of challenges you would be faced with. Did you do any type of practice or preparation with other weapons to get ready for the show?

Kyle:Yeah, I have throwing knives which I just keep around for fun. But yes, I did, I don’t do a lot of high power rifle because we just don’t have the facilities to do 1,000 yard shots around here, but I picked up a .308 and a .30-30 cowboy gun, just to familiarize myself with the weapon platforms more than anything.

I obviously wasn’t going to master cowboy shooting or long distance rifle shooting in the week that I had to practice. Frankly, I couldn’t afford to go out and shoot as much as I wanted to practice either. It was a lot of picking up things I hadn’t normally shot before. I picked up the throwing knives again and shot some double action revolvers that I really never do because it’s so outside of my purview.

I did a little bit of preparation, but you just don’t know what’s going to happen. I have a bow and I shot that a little bit, but I knew that in that week of time that I wasn’t going to become an expert in any of these things. Really it was just getting comfortable with them again.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Moving onto the show itself, the producers really kinda just threw ya’ll into a kind of “trial by fire” with the first challenge. No warning, nobody was really expecting to shoot that day, and then BAM! You’re told that you’re shooting your first challenge.

Kyle: It was a crazy feeling. We were in a van for 3 days. It was raining and cold, and every second of sunshine was taken up by us trying to film something before the first rain came in. Then we’d get back in these blacked out vans and just wait for hours.

We weren’t really allowed to talk to each other yet. The entire show was trying to struggle between relaxing, being bored, and then trying to figure out what you’re doing. Then, all of the sudden, you’re in competition mode.

When you go on a shoot, whether it is shotgun, rifle, pistol, or whatever, you go to a range and you know what you’re getting yourself into. You know the mental preparation that it’s going to take to do well and to compete against all of these other people, but when you’re in this social setting, which is really what it was inside the house, we were all just goofing off and having fun, not knowing what you’re going to shoot and not knowing what’s going on and then all of the sudden you get a phone call saying “Hey, it’s 9:15, get in the van in 15 minutes, you’re going to shoot.”

It was the same thing when Colby said that. You didn’t know what we were shooting, and we weren’t mentally prepared. It really took a lot of people by surprise.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Let’s talk about the Blue Team that was selected by Jay after shooting the Sharps rifle. How did your background affect your role within the team?

Kyle: Well, I got along with Jay really well right out of the gate. He and I are very close to each other geographically. We live nearby each other and shoot at the same ranges. We also both shoot International Skeet, which is something that neither of us knew going in that there was another guy who shot such an esoteric sport.

It was really cool, Jermaine, Daryl, Ashley, these military guys with extensive backgrounds in that sort of thing, and then to have the dichotomy of having Chris and myself, we really had a well rounded team I felt. We had a well oiled team, we had all of our bases covered, and the dynamics were really really good in the beginning.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Your performance on the show really wasn’t that bad. You obviously were not the most skilled shooter on the team, but neither were you someone who could easily be dismissed. Many of the early episodes we see the team dynamic play a much more important role than the performance of any individual. Was it difficult to find your role within the team and to figure out what unique skills you brought to the table and how you could help the team the most?

Kyle: Absolutely. Out of the gate we shot the .45-70 Sharps rifle. It was a 200 yard shot, something that I don’t do a whole lot. Really, there were a lot of missed shots. The fact that Jay hit it and Ashley didn’t or George didn’t, that was kind of a fluke. There were not any elimination challenges that were going to come as a result of how well or how poorly you did there.

Then with the 1911 with the pool balls, that was really really tough. That was not something that I had claimed to be an expert in. The fact that you’re just going up there, you’re not prepared mentally, and I think Chris Tilley said it best when he said that he just “wasn’t in it,” because you can’t mentally wrap your head around what you’re going to do because you don’t have enough information.

I really struggled in the beginning. I struggled with the 1911, I struggled with the Police Positive in the paintball episode, and I don’t know what the turning point was really, but at the bow and arrow challenge, which is much more suited to a shotgun shooter in that you’re shooting more instinctively with both eyes open, for some reason everything began to fall into place.

I realized “Hey, I do deserve to be here. I am a good shooter in my own right. Let’s just have fun with it.”

Cheaper Than Dirt: One thing that everyone we’ve spoken to has mentioned, both from Season 1 and Season 2, is that despite how heated things may have gotten on the set, despite the intense competitions, and perhaps because of those same things, that they all came out of the experience with very strong friendships with all of the other participants.

Kyle: I absolutely had the same experience. Since the show has come out, and since the editing has been done, there has been a story line built around specific characters that may or may not accurately depict how they really are in real life, I feel like it’s been a full time job defending these guys, because they really are such good people.

A lot of people will say that “George is such a @#$! He’s got to go!” But I mean come on, he’s really just absolutely amazing. Or they will think that some guy is really arrogant, but I know that they are the most humble guy I’ve met in my entire life. How he come’s across that way is beyond me. Really, the coolest thing about the entire experience, yes we got to shoot some really cool scenarios with some great weapons platforms and all that, but the coolest thing about the whole thing is that I got to meet so many people who come from such a different background, who have a different mindset.

I’m 23, a lot of these guys are much older. The fact that they were able to break down their defenses and really open up to someone like me, or someone like Jay, or really anyone else in the house, was really cool.

You’re in this house with no outside stimulation, and all you have is each other. You have to get along. Getting to know them on such a personal level and becoming such good friends was the absolute best thing about the entire experience.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Let’s go back to something you just mentioned about the editing, the story lines, and the way the show is put together. IT does seem that through the casting process that they are really looking for talented shooters with the right personality to fill a certain character role that they have picked out. You mentioned that you were really only competing for the role of the young talented city slicker.

Kyle: Exactly.

Cheaper Than Dirt: We’ve seen the stoic military guy and the extremely specialized competition shooter, but there does seem to be in every season a person or two who are cast and edited to appear as the heel, as the adversary that the viewers are not supposed to like. For many viewers Jay Lim seems to fill that role in Season 2. What was your experience with Jay like? Is the editing accurate, and does he deserve that role that it seems he’s been cast into?

Kyle: Jay and I met, we’d never known each other before, but we first met in LA after we both realized that we were on the show. I had recognized him from the 50 people who went out for the final selection process. We started talking and realized that we lived only 20 miles away from each other, we go to the same ranges, and we had a lot in common.

He’s an academic, I’m an academic, and we just really hit it off. I would say that, without a doubt, he was my best friend on the show. We were buddies. I helped him devise his list for the team selection. We were very close. He respected my opinion, I respected his. He’s an awesome guy.

That being said, he has some quirks. Obviously those are exaggerated on the show through editing, but I had an awesome experience with him. We hang out together every week. We’ve gone to Vegas together. Would I want to live together with him ever again? Probably not, but I love hanging out with the guy. His family is awesome, he’s got an adorable little baby, and he’s just a great guy.

I didn’t get any of those negative vibes and, to be honest, the reason he came across so poorly to some of the Red Team members is that he’s just out there. The best way to describe him would is that he’s a systems guy. He thinks very systematically about how everything is supposed to work out. If it doesn’t, he gets confused or just mentally breaks down. With social dynamics, he can’t factor those into his system. The Red Team didn’t trust him, they didn’t understand him.

Towards the end however, I think that Eric and George and Jamie especially really opened up to him and consider him as much a friend as anybody else.

Cheaper Than Dirt: We saw some resistance from the Blue Team, some push back against Jay, to the extent that he was sent up for elimination. Still, he’s showed time and time again that when it counts, he’s able to make the shots.

Kyle: He’s a great athlete is what it really comes down to. He taught himself to play golf and became a professional golfer in just a year. That’s something that most people can’t do. He picks up a gun and he’s naturally able to bio-mechanically break down the motions and figure out exactly what he needs to do to hit the target. It may be unorthodox, it may not be everybody else’s style, and it may be a style from 30 years ago with his cup and saucer technique that has been lambasted on some of the online forums.

He’s unorthodox, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that in these team practice sessions you only get like, 12 rounds of ammunition. It’s not like you’re out there all day shooting cases and cases of ammo. You get rationed, literally sometimes only 4 rounds of ammo. Have fun with 25 rounds of .45 ammo! It’s not like you can overhaul somebody’s style or teach an old dog new tricks with those few rounds. He was going to revert back to whatever he knew in the heat of competition, so he might as well practice that and get to know the gun and where his point of impact is rather than adjusting his technique or style.

He made it happen in a number of those challenges just based on his pure natural ability. He’s not a professional shooter. I’m not sure he would even consider himself an amateur shooter. He’s a recreational shooter. He really did a lot better than everyone expected, and I think that is part of what drove all of the hate towards him.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Very interesting point of view there. Let’s move on and talk about this week’s episode. These were some of the most difficult challenges presented so far during Season 2.

Kyle: We came off of the most recent 1911 challenge two episodes ago, and I really felt like I finally was able to master that gun. I did really well on that one and felt confident in the way I was able to help my team. I did well on the last episodes with the tomahawks. We lost Chris Tilley and that was unfortunate, but it’s part of the game.

This last episode, we didn’t know what we were going to shoot. I kept thinking, “When are we going to see a shotgun?” I just wanted to finally show that I was worth my weight on this team. I want to be able to finally show off a little bit. Then we got to practice and it was three pistols. We had just sent home our last pistol shooter, and we show up to practice and it’s trick shooting.

There are a lot of exhibition shotgun shooters out there. It plays well to the technique and skills that a shotgun shooter possesses. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be shooting a pistol again, but the practice went well. The lollipop, I felt that I did the best out of our team, which was kind of a surprise to everybody, the Red Team especially.

It was a lot of fun. It was very very difficult. Those precision shots, with these guns in particular, a lot of people think “Well, I have a .357 Ruger here at the house, I can do that with my eyes closed.”

These guns are literally out of the back of a truck from some armorer. These are not competition guns. It was really really difficult. The first time we handled a double action trigger was the first episode when Chris Tilley went up against Travis Marsh with a .44 Magnum. He came back to the house and he said “I can’t shoot this gun! We’ll go from a 5lb trigger to an 8lb trigger in back to back shots. It’s such an inconsistent trigger pull.”

We got to the practice stage with the .357 Magnum and we were shooting our non-dominant hand. Shooting with your non-dominant hand is extremely difficult, people try to master this in all the pistol sports, but when you have a gun that seems to literally have a three-stage variable weight trigger it is just awful.

There was one time when I literally couldn’t pull the trigger back. It got stuck on the second stage and it was like a 25 pound pull. I told them “This trigger, something’s wrong with the hammer. You have a problem with the sear or the hammer, something’s up.” Ashley got up and he had the same problem, and we just shut it down. We weren’t shooting that gun.

We didn’t have a gunsmith on there. We had an armorer, and in his defense he did a very good job with what he was given. The next season, from what I hear, are going to be absolutely 100% better. They’re getting a bunch of sponsorships and it should be a lot of fun to watch. But yes, it was difficult getting results from the weapons we were given, not to make excuses, but it was difficult.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Top Shot is about being able to overcome and adapt using whatever you are given, and at the end of the day the competitor who is able to do that the best is the one who will prevail.

Kyle: I really think that’s what did a lot of the professional pistol shooters in. You know, all of the professional pistol shooters, Maggie, Athena, Chris, John Guida even though he’s not a professional he shoots at that level, they were all so honed with their match guns. They were talking about guns with a trigger pull measured in ounces, with optics and compensators, chambered in .38 super and other calibers with absolutely no recoil.

Then they’re given a 1911 GI model that is literally brand new, with an 8-9 pound trigger, and the entire thing is totally different. Yes, it’s the same basic platform they’re shooting, but this is a totally different gun. It’s like a baseball player with bat with a very specific weight. If you give them a bat that is a few ounces heavier or a few ounces lighter, their rhythm is off and their timing is off. Their swing is totally different.

I really think that is what hampered these professional pistol shooters who literally had just come back from the USPSA Nationals. There was not time to practice with these bare bones GI model guns.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Talking about the team challenge in this week’s episode, it seemed like everyone really seemed to struggle with it. You were left with shooting the vertical plates with both hands at the same time. It’s challenging enough just to get both hammers to fall simultaneously on a double action revolver, but to to be able to also aim at targets on the left and on the right at the same time, it’s difficult to imagine how anyone could pull it off.

Kyle: It really was difficult. During the team challenge, Ashley felt like he would feel more comfortable shooting the corn cob pipes, even though I had done better in practice and would do a better job in that particular stage. So, I took on the two-handed simultaneous firing vertical rack.

It was extremely challenging, especially with those triggers which were so inconsistent, all compounded by the fact that I’m blind in my left eye. So, it wasn’t like I could use my left eye to aim that one and get a proper sight picture and my right to do the same on the other side. There was no simultaneous sight alignment, I had to move my head.

Of course, when you move your head to the left, your right hand is doing whatever it wants to do as it is affected by wind, gravity, whatever. Getting them to fire at the same time is difficult enough, but combined with the fact that I couldn’t get a sight picture at the same time, made it nearly impossible.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Still, despite all of that, you did hit a pair of plates.

Kyle: I did, I hit the first two simultaneously and got a point, the next pair I hit the right one, and then hit the right one again. After the first pair I was never able to hit the left one again.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Ashley had a pretty poor performance during that challenge. Jay Lim also struggled and didn’t hit a single plate, and he indicated that he felt that he would be sent with Ashley to the elimination challenge. I think there was some confusion among the viewers, myself includes, as to why you were picked on the nomination range to go to the elimination challenge. Was there something behind the scenes that we missed?

Kyle: I knew 100% that I was going to be nominated. We had a breakdown about the 4th episode, and it didn’t come across, for once, as dramatically as it happened. It was the episode where Jermaine and Jay went to the elimination challenge, and Jermaine was supposed to choose whoever he wanted to go to the elimination with.

I knew that if Jermaine were to choose anybody, more than likely it was going to be me. Just for self preservation and because I didn’t perform well in the first two challenges.

Cheaper Than Dirt: And of course he did choose you.

Kyle: He did, but then Daryl stepped up and chose Jay and forced a shoot off, and then Jay ended up going. I was kind of saved by the skin of my teeth. When we got back to the house, it really boiled over. Daryl and Jay got into it, we all got into it. We didn’t leave our little room until we hashed things out. We were there for over an hour. There was some serious heat being thrown back and forth. Jay thought he was being undercut by Daryl, didn’t trust the team, thought he the whole team had kinda rebelled against him.

We got to the point where there was a mutual understanding of what happened, and what needed to happen moving forward. From that point on, we never left the room without knowing who was going to elimination. There was no doubt in our mind, we knew who exactly was shooting who’s target, but obviously they weren’t going to show that however because it would ruin the show.

We knew who was going up and who was going to fire on my target.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Right, and none of the viewers of this week’s episode saw that. Walk us through the logic, what happened behind the scenes that led to your nomination?

Kyle: I knew that I didn’t perform well in the first two team challenges. I knew that I had gone to one elimination when I had done better than Ashley or some of the other people. I took that as an indication that I had redeemed myself for one of my poor performances at the very beginning. I still had one more to make up for, in my head, how I was thinking.

I didn’t do terribly well. I tied Daryl, but then Daryl had that phenomenal shot with the splitting of the bullet on the axe, so we weren’t going to send him. Really it was left between myself, Ashley, and Jay. Ashley nominated himself, he was going to go regardless. At that point it just came down to myself and Jay.

I won’t say that Jay carries the team, but he performs well in every single challenge. He did phenomenally well, and this was the first challenge where he didn’t do so well, but he was also given the toughest shot. Each one of his shots was worth three times what ours were worth. Obviously it was a difficult shot, and while he didn’t hit any, it was the hardest shot and he’d done so well in all of the previous challenges that, by process of elimination, it became me and Ashley.

And I was totally fine with that. I was OK going up against Ashley, I had the utmost respect for the guys despite what is being said online about him calling me out and throwing me under the bus. Whatever, the guy is amazing, and there is a whole other story behind that as well.

I was confident. I felt that my skill set would be well suited for the challenge, and I felt like we would be evenly matched.

I also felt like the challenge might be with a shotgun, because in the last season and the exhibition shots, they used a shotgun. I wasn’t sure they would do that again, but I thought “Wouldn’t that be cool if it actually was?” so I was kinda holding out for that. Obviously it wasn’t, but I felt confident going in. I didn’t feel like my team had backstabbed me. It just kinda happened by process of elimination and I was cool with that.

Cheaper Than Dirt: You showed up to the practice session for the elimination challenge, and Taran Butler is standing there next to this big contraption, and he tells you that you’re going to be hanging upside down, did you have any confidence that you’d still be able to pull off a win?

Kyle: Absolutely. The whole thing about Top Shot is to be as prepared as you possibly can be for whatever is going to be thrown at you. You kinda have to laugh it off and have fun with it. Ashley and I were in the bus, we’re riding to the ranch to shoot, and we don’t know what we’re shooting or in what scenario and what the targets will be, we’re literally like two buddies going to the range having a good time.

That’s really what it was at that moment. We were standing there, still not knowing what we’d be shooting, just prepping for the filming and whatnot, and we kinda got a glimpse of the frame and wondered “What is that?”

We saw targets 25 yards away, so we knew it would be a pistol, that much was obvious by the way it was set up, and you’re just thinking to yourself “What the hell is going on?”

We couldn’t see who the expert was, but then we walked up and they told us “You’re going to be upside down.”

I have never shot upside down. There isn’t really a safe way to do it, really, at a range. I was very excited, and I had a lot of confidence. Ashley is a big, big lumbering guy, but this isn’t particularly suited for CQB tactics or Special-Ops stuff. It really is more suited for my particular skill set.

Cheaper Than Dirt: As you said, very few people have ever fired a gun upside down. What did you have to do to be able to make the shots?

Kyle: Many people have said “Oh, that doesn’t look that difficult. It’s just like shooting a regular target, but upside down.”

OK, well, that’s cool, but you have to imagine how gravity works on every single muscle you use when holding a gun. When you’re holding a gun while standing upright on your feet, you’re lifting with your arms and using your shoulders, forearms, and those groups of muscles. When you’re upside down, you’re actually pulling the gun instead of lifting. It’s the other way around.

All of the muscles that your using are muscles that you don’t normally use when you’re shooting. All of your control muscles are different. The sight picture is also disorienting. The entire thing is completely the opposite, you’ve got blood rushing to your head, you’re losing concentration, you can’t really breathe because your abs are trying to support you and keep you taught, and so all of these muscles are constricting and working hard, which is the complete opposite of how you shoot a successful shot where you would relax and use a smooth and easy trigger squeeze.

That’s not what you can do while upside down. It’s quite the opposite.

Cheaper Than Dirt: When shooting while standing upright, gravity also helps to mitigate the recoil by pulling the pistol back down after the muzzle blast pushes it back and upwards. While upside down, gravity makes the recoil much, much worse.

Kyle: The recoil control was another thing that made it insanely hard. The transitions were harder because the recoil was so much affected by gravity. Pulling the gun up to get it back on target when hanging upside down than it is when standing upright. Like I said, that makes the transitions a lot harder.

You really have to get it out of your head that you’re upside down and just mentally tell yourself that you can do this, that this can be done, and that you’re going to hit the target.

Cheaper Than Dirt: During the challenge itself, Ashley had a flawless run. He hit every single bottle. On your run going into it, did you feel confident that you could do the same?

Kyle: I did. I didn’t know his score. We weren’t able to see each other shoot. I had no idea that he had a flawless run. When I got back up to the set everything had been cleaned up and reset for me to go. I had no idea how well he did.

You just don’t know, so you get up there and you just tell yourself that you’re going to hit every single one of these targets. Obviously my pistol shooting wasn’t the best in the previous challenges, so I just told myself that I’d go up there and do my best.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Not knowing how Ashley did, you had to feel pretty good hitting 5 out of 6 then. There was no let down when you had that one miss.

Kyle: Oh, absolutely not. I felt really really good. Looking back, I was actually 6 or 7 seconds faster than Ashley, and the tie breaker was time. You have 6 shots, the chance of a tie is actually pretty great. I knew that I had to be quick, but also be accurate. Hitting 5 out of 6, I was pretty pleased with that.

I actually thought that I had won. You know, the chances of him hitting 6 out of 6, I didn’t expect him to do so well. I never thought he would have a perfect run.

Cheaper Than Dirt: If you’re going to be sent home however, that’s the way you’d want it done. For your competitor to have a flawless run.

Kyle: That’s exactly how it should have happened. If you’re going to beat me, you’d better be perfect. I couldn’t be mad about it, I couldn’t be resentful. I really was very very happy that he one in those circumstances, under those conditions, and with that score.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Given the chance to do it all again, would you take the opportunity?

Kyle: In a heartbeat. When I left, I don’t know if my answer would be the same, because you go through so much. There is so much boredom and you miss your family and friends. You miss the comfort of your own home and your own life, and you want some type of music of stimulation. When you’re on the show you don’t know the news, you don’t know anything, so getting out of there was actually kinda nice.

It was nice to watch TV or have a beer, or any of those things that you do in your day to day life. Looking back now, and being in that house with those guys, I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. It was a great experience and I take away fifteen lifelong friends. It was awesome, I loved it.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Top Shot has done a phenomenal job of introducing people who may have never been exposed to the shooting sports to how fun, exciting, and safe they can be. California, where you live, is not well known for being very accepting of hunters and shooters in general. What more can we do, how can we leverage the foothold that Top Shot has given us to help to bring the shooting sports back into the mainstream?

Kyle: Even before I was on Top Shot, I really thought of myself as an ambassador for the shooting sports. I’m young, I’m not the typical looking shooter, and I think that allows people to talk to me in a different way, and I think that allows people to talk to me in a different way than if I were to be, say, wearing camouflage and open carrying an AR-15.

I went to UCLA in Los Angeles, which is arguably the most restrictive city, in addition to New York, DC, Chicago and San Francisco, which might be slightly more restrictive, but L.A. is very very restrictive. They do not issue any concealed carry permits whatsoever, except under extreme circumstances. I really do see myself as an ambassador for the shooting sports.

Everyone I meet and talk to, whether it be a political discussion or social discussion, at some point it always seems that shooting gets brought up. They’ll ask “What do you do?” And I’ll reply that I shoot competitively, and then their curiosity is piqued and the conversation just goes from there. They’ll want to know “How did you get into that?” and they’re so fascinated.

I’ve really taken it upon myself, whether it is co-workers or my friends or family members, to take them out shooting. Just take them out, have fun, and hit some targets, just so they can realize that:

A) Gun toting Americans are not uneducated or carrying guns and causing harm and being violent with them. The number of people who commit violent crimes with firearms are so few, and they are blown far out of proportion by the media. It has really been my mission to spread the word that gun ownership is your right and can also be seen as part of your duty to protect yourself and your family.

B) Gun ownership can be fun and enjoyable. It can be a way to bring families together and have a fun experience. I didn’t get the chance to shoot with my mom that much, but I shot with my dad and that really brought us together. It really solidified our relationship through what can only be described as turbulent adolescent times. I think there is a lot to be said for having a safe, recreational, shooting foundation within a family.

Cheaper Than Dirt: We talked earlier about your childhood growing up in Southern California and how your parents dealt with your early fascination with firearms. I’m sure there are many parents out there who have children who are fascinated with hunting, shooting, or firearms in general. Many parents see these activities and this fascination with guns and come to the conclusion that their children are social deviants, that they are violent, or have some mental disorder. What would you tell those parents out there whose children have expressed an interest in guns and shooting?

Kyle: I think, to go back just a little bit, that there are going to be far, far more kids out there who are interested in shooting. With video games that emphasize military actions or even competition shooting video games, there are going to be many more kids out there who have an interest in firearms and want to shoot guns.

If you don’t give them a direction with that interest, there is a very good chance that when they do encounter that firearm, whether they find one or their friends take them to their parent’s house and they see a gun, there is no education behind them. All they know is what they saw on a video game.

Any parent who has a child interested in shooting at all really needs to educate them. At some point in time they are going to encounter a firearm, and it’s important to teach them what to do when they do.

The Eddie Eagle program through the NRA is a phenomenal program, and I’ve actually taken part in teaching that program to a lot of young shotgun shooters in Orange County with my coach. It’s a great program and any parent out there should look into it. It’s free, and you can find literature about it online.

Give your child an opportunity to shoot in a safe environment, give them lessons, teach them the respect of owning a firearm, and the respect needed to shoot it responsibly. I couldn’t emphasize this more: education is the key behind any firearm legislation moving forward.

Cheaper Than Dirt: Those are some very profound insights, and I want to thank you for taking the time to share them with us. It’s been a pleasure talking with you.

Kyle: By all means, I appreciate having the opportunity.

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Comments (3)

Mark Brown

I appreciate this interview very much. I got answers to several things I wanted to know. Over the course of the show I’ve found Kyle to be an incredibly kind and wise person, an honorable young man. I agree completely with those that shared their disappointment that Kyle didn’t have a chance to his day to really shine. I one for one was looking forward so the day that there was a shotgun competition where Kyle could clean house. That didn’t come but the compliment paid by Cody to him in the A-R – interview was to for me a wonderful tribute that Kyle can hold his chest high and be proud. I’m very appreciative to Cheaper Than Dirt as well for interviewing Kyle and letting us get a better idea of the behind the scenes interaction on the show. God Bless you Kyle you’re the real thing. I hope that maybe you get a chance to come out east here and compete some time.

jumpthestack

I think it’s a little unfair that there were no shotgun challenges yet. The shotgun, with the handgun and rifle, is one of the three major types of small arms that civilians have access to, so I would expect about 1/3 of the challenges to involve a shotgun. For being a shotgun guy with no shotgun challenges to compete in, Kyle did really well.

Mike

If there were one thing only I could change about top shot, it would be to have the first competition show off everyone’s skills. Something like a team version of the grande finale from last year, to establish what is so great about every participant.

Sorry you got eliminated before the shotgun episode, I was really looking forward to seeing what you can do.

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